The Acer Predator Helios 300 (2021) is a Predator. It’s inexpensive and has decent features and performance, but sacrifices.
The Helios 300 costs $1,699 and features an Intel Core i7-10750H processor, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 GPU, 15.6-inch, 240Hz display, and a punchy keyboard. Short battery life and bad speakers are the catch.
While not one of the greatest gaming laptops, the Acer Predator Helios 300 (2021) is a fantastic deal if you plan to stay plugged in and use a gaming headset.
What About Its Price?
Price and setup choices for Acer Predator Helios 300 (2021)
The $1,699 Predator Helios 300 has an Intel Core i7-10750H processor, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 GPU with 8GB of VRAM, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, and a 1080p, 240Hz display.
The $1,199 base model has a Core i7-11800H CPU, RTX 3060 GPU, and 1080p, 144Hz monitor. $2,299 gets you a Core i7-10750H, RTX 3080, 32GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, and a 1080p, 240Hz monitor.
2021 Acer Predator Helios 300
Helios 300 looks like Acer Predator laptops. The hood is black aluminium with blue brackets encircling the silver Predator logo. Only the deep, dark black on the hood makes this chassis beautiful.
The chassis’ inside is black. Large touchpad, edge-to-edge keyboard, and vents below the hinge. Predator bezels are chunky as usual.
Helios 300 weighs 5.5 pounds and is 14.3 x 10 x 0.9 inches. It’s heavier than the Asus TUF Dash F15 (RTX 3070) (4.4 lbs., 14.2 x 10 x 0.8 in.), Razer Blade 15 Base Edition (2021) (4.6 lbs., 14 x 9.3 x 0.8 in.), and Asus ROG Strix G15 Advantage Edition (5.4 pounds, 14.1 x 10.8 x 1 inch).
What About The Ports?
Acer Helios 300 (2021) ports
Acer Predator Helios 300 has many ports.
The left side has a Kensington lock slot, Ethernet port, two USB Type-A ports, and headphone jack; the right side has Mini DisplayPort, HDMI port, one USB Type-A port, and one USB Type-C port.
The back of the laptop only has a power jack, which isn’t a bad design choice because the cord won’t be in the way while gaming. Given the laptop’s difficult-to-access port, moving it can be frustrating.
See our best laptop docking stations and finest USB Type-C hubs for more ports.
Acer Helios 300 (2021) screen
The 15.6-inch, 1920 x 1080-pixel Acer Predator Helios 300 display is vibrant and bright. 240Hz refresh rate panel makes games look fluid.
The Misfits trailer showed a blue Lamborghini on the Helios 300’s screen. Pierce Brosnan and his team were debating a concept in a dark room when the display revealed detail behind them. Brosnan’s hair looked great.
I snuck around some docks in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla as the sun sank. When I dove underwater to escape, the brilliant display revealed the riverbed.
I toned down some graphics to experience the high refresh rate, and it looked incredibly smooth as I put my axe in a foe’s neck.
The Helios 300 covered 73.7% of the DCI-P3 colour gamut, over the popular gaming laptop average of 66.3%. The TUF Dash F15 (77.9%), Razer Blade 15 (87.3%), and Strix G15 Advantage were more colourful (76.7 per cent).
At 283 nits, the Helios 300 was brighter than the TUF Dash F15 (265 nits), Razer Blade 15 (271 nits), and Strix G15 Advantage (280 nits).
What About Keyboard?
Keyboard and touchpad of Acer Predator Helios 300 (2021)
The Acer Predator Helios 300’s keyboard lacks pleasant clicks but offers solid feedback on every depression.
I typed 82 wpm on 10fastfingers.com, above my usual 78 wpm. The keys are well-spaced and the deck has enough area for my palms.
Customize the keyboard’s four-zone RGB lighting through the PredatorSense app.
The lighting isn’t as stunning as a per-key RGB keyboard. The lighting software is basic.
Smooth yet sticky touchpad. The dip between the deck and touchpad is too deep for me. Two-finger scrolling and three-finger tabbing worked great on the touchpad in Windows 10.
Acer Helios 300 (2021) audio
The Predator Helios 300’s bottom-firing speakers are bad.
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The high-pitched electric guitar noises in Dream State’s “I Feel It Too” harm my ears.
Vocals were hollow and percussion was muffled under the guitar. The chorus was loud. This song is great, but not on this pc.
When I played Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, the speakers distorted the bassy ambient noises. I heard a hollow, piercing noise when I attacked with my axe. I couldn’t understand dialogue without subtitles.
DTS:X Ultra is a music, voice, movie, and gaming audio app. Switching to any of them improved the sound, but not the speakers.
Acer Predator Helios 300 (2021) gaming, VR
With an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 GPU and 8GB of VRAM, the Predator Helios 300 ran Assassin’s Creed Valhalla at 70 frames per second on Ultra, 1080p settings.
Helios 300 averaged 68 fps on Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (Ultra, 1080p), beating the average gaming laptop (50 fps).
It beat TUF Dash F15’s RTX 3070 (51 fps), Razer Blade 15’s RTX 3070 (64 fps), and Strix G15 Advantage’s AMD Radeon RX 6800M. (49 fps).
Acer Predator Helios 300 got 84 fps on Far Cry New Dawn (Ultra, 1080p), above the 75-fps category average.
It beat TUF Dash F15 (70 fps) and Strix G15 Advantage (81 fps) but lagged behind Razer Blade 15. (86 fps).
Helios 300 got 77 fps on Borderlands 3 (Badass, 1080p), above the average gaming laptop (56 fps).
It beat TUF Dash F15 (62 fps) and Razer Blade 15 (67 fps), but not Strix G15 Advantage (79 fps).
The Helios 300 hit 60 fps in Metro: Exodus (Ultra, RTX, 1080p), beating the category average (50 fps) as well as the TUF Dash F15 (49 fps), Razer Blade 15 (52 fps), and Strix G15 Advantage (54 fps) (54 fps).
Acer Predator Helios 300 (2021)
The Predator Helios 300 sports a Core i7-10750H processor and 16GB of RAM. It smoothly handled 40 Chrome tabs and five 1080p YouTube videos.
Helios 300 scored 6,257 in Geekbench 5.3, beating the average gaming laptop (5,263). It beat the TUF Dash F15’s Core i7-11375H (5,166) and the Razer Blade 15’s Core i7-10750H (5,564) but not the Strix G15 Advantage’s AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX (7,746).
The Helios 300 transcoded a 4K video to 1080p in 9 minutes and 18 seconds (9:15). It beat the TUF Dash F15 (10:40) and Razer Blade 15 Base Model (10:57), but not the Strix G15 Advantage (6:57).
Acer’s 512GB SSD has a 544 MBps transfer rate, which is slower than the TUF Dash F15 (1,003 MBps) and Razer Blade 15 SSDs (602 MBps).
What About Its Battery Life?
Battery life Acer Predator Helios 300 (2021)
Predator Helios 300’s battery life is worse than other gaming laptops.
The Helios 300 lasted 4 hours and 40 minutes on Laptop Mag’s battery test, over 2 hours less than the 6:29 mainstream gaming laptop average.
It lasted somewhat longer than the Razer Blade 15 (4:36), but not as long as the TUF Dash F15 (6:53) and Strix G15 Advantage (7:30). (10:14).
Acer Helios 300 webcam (2021)
Predator Helios 300’s 720p webcam was terrible.
Also Read: Who Will Buy Meta VR Headset? Meta’s High-End VR Headgear As A Laptop For The Face!
My photo was grainy and couldn’t capture the Fullmetal Alchemist scroll behind me. Due to contrast issues, the webcam transformed my window into a white abyss.
This webcam won’t do for online D&D. Visit our top webcams website if you want to seem good.
Acer Helios 300 (2021) overheats
Acer Predator Helios 300 becomes hot during gaming. After 15 minutes of gaming, the underbelly reached 121 degrees, exceeding our 95-degree comfort threshold.
The keyboard and touchpad are both 105 degrees.
The Helios 300 doesn’t get hot when running casually. After streaming a 15-minute 1080p video, the undercarriage reached 100 degrees, the keyboard hit 89, and the touchpad hit 78.
Software, warranty for Acer Predator Helios 300 (2021)
PredatorSense is the Helios 300’s most important app. This programme monitors CPU, GPU, and system temperatures and overclocks GPUs and fans.
The Acer Care Center app provides information on component checkups and warranty status.
Hidden City, Roblox, and Dolby Access are Windows 10 bloatware.
Predator Helios 300 has a one-year warranty. See Acer’s Tech Support Showdown and Best and Worst Brands rankings.
Final Summary!
The Acer Predator Helios 300 has excellent performance, a bright screen, and a comfortable keyboard. When you consider the low battery life and poor speakers, $1,699 seems steep.
Counsel? Strix G15 Advantage ($1,549 – $1,699) has a longer battery life and a faster CPU.
Also Read: All You Need To Know About Gran Turismo! Read More!
You’ll miss the Predator’s brighter screen and better GPU. The Predator Helios 300 is a solid gaming laptop with terrible battery life and audio.
